Flack: What’s in a name?

A look at where the arguably derogatory term comes from and what it means today

When I started blogging several years ago, I came up with a name that I thought was sure to get some attention. FlacksRevenge.com was intended to be equal parts ironic, provocative and irreverent. It is shorthand for the central theme: reformed media suitor turns tables and uses social media tools to become media critic. Take that, callous media! See my first post, which lays things out.

I received some interesting feedback to my blog (in general, not what I had hoped for). Some were puzzled. Some outright disliked the name. Most ignored the blog.

The problem was that most people outside the field did not know what a flack was. Many in my targeted audience—PR and marketing people—found the term offensive. It took lots of explanations for friends and family, many of whom barely understood what I did for a living in the first place.  One or two people commented that they thought it was a great name.

In this era, it is not enough to be good at what you do. You need to build your personal brand and make sure that it resonates loudly and clearly across your networks. For better or worse, I have built some equity in the name and it is now part of my personal brand.

With these thoughts in mind, as I near the completion of my third year blogging at Flacks Revenge, I thought I would take a little time to reflect on the label “flack,” and try to answer the following questions: Where does the term “flack” come from and what does it mean today? Is it OK to use it, and would I pick the same name if I were to start all over?

What is a “flack” (or should it be “flak”)?

Not to be confused with the name of the insurance company that has a duck as a mascot, there are a couple of possible derivations of the term and an interesting story behind its evolution.

Under the definition of Anti-aircraft Warfare, Wikipedia says flak is a “nickname for ... anti-aircraft artillery...believed to derive from the German Flugabwehrkanone, aircraft defense cannon…” The Merriam Webster Online dictionary confirms this interpretation, and cites both flack and flakas accepted spellings.

Republican pundit, former Nixon speechwriter and wordsmith William Safire expands on this derivation in Safire's Political Dictionary and explains how the word came to be associated with the PR trade (he was actually part of its history):

“The word was coined in World War II to describe anti-aircraft gunfire ... the puffs of smoke of the exploding anti-aircraft shells may have also given rise to a similar word, flack: “press agent” or “public information officer” and more recently “media advisor”. The puffs derogatorily refer to puffed up or inflated, exaggerated information...

Fred Shapiro, editor of the Yale Book of Quotations, traced flack to a note in the June 1939 issue of Better English magazine... “[The magazine] Variety, birthplace of numerous Americanisms, is trying to coin the word ‘flack’ as a synonym for publicity agent. The word is said to be derived from Gene Flack, a movie publicity agent... something Variety may have overlooked, however is that a Yiddish word similar in sound means 'one who goes around talking about the other fellow's business...”

Safire goes on to relate a call he got from an aide to Henry Kissinger while working on a speech in the Nixon White House:

“Dr. Kissinger says a columnist named Joe Kraft just called him an ‘administration flack’ and he wants to know whether he should take offense,” wrote Safire. “With the background understood the current meaning of flack with a c—‘apologist, or paid proponent’—was passed along, with its pejorative ... connotation. To cheer up Dr. Kissinger, the thought was added that the role, if not the word, could be an honorable one, since a skilled advocate was needed to explicate foreign policy.”
  
So there you have it. I thought the word came from “Flack Jacket” or “Flack Catcher” because we run interference with the media and catch flack for clients.

The flack vote

Is the term accepted, and OK to use? I am sure reasonable people can and will disagree on this. If it is any indication of the acceptance of the word flack in the PR field, I have seen quite a few blogs that use the term in their title. Brendan Cooper’s last PR Friendly Index of 100 top PR blogs includes four that have the word Flack in them (I am proud that mine is one of these). A Google search revealed 900 blogs with the word Flack in the title.

At times, groups use non-politically correct names to describe themselves, and say it is OK to do this as long you are a member of the referenced group. I see nothing wrong in using the term if you are flack like me.

Having said all that, if I were to do it over again I would probably opt for a more mainstream name that’s not fraught with so many negative connotations.

Bob Geller is a Senior VP at Fusion  Public Relations. He blogs at Fusion  PR Forum and on his own blog, Flack’s Revenge. You can follow him on Twitter.